Giving up the ghosts of Big and Little Edie
Estate sale at Grey Gardens draws fans of Jackie Kennedy’s offbeat and iconic relatives
EAST HAMPTON, N. Y.— The last possessions and trifles of the infamous relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy — Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale — were sold to devotees at an estate sale in November.
Known as Big and Little Edie, the reclusive mother-daughter team lived at the estate known as Grey Gardens for 50 years. The big house and large property, much like its occupants, slid into a state of decay and surrender, inhabited by an army of cats and raccoons.
For decades, Grey Gardens has belonged to journalist Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee, the longtime executive editor of the Washington Post who died in 2014. But the house drew much of its fame — or infamy — from its earlier owners.
The Beales’ strange cloister was captured by Albert and David Maysles whose1975 documentary became a cult classic. Afterward, Little Edie, with her upside-down outfits and looping drawl, emerged as a campy philosopher and gay idol.
Devotees recite her best lines — “They can get you in East Hampton for wearing red shoes on a Thursday” — which appeared on posters and T-shirts. The merchandising of Beale-abilia is still robust.
In 2006, Grey Gardens the musical opened on Broadway. Three years later, Grey Gardens, the HBO movie starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore debuted on TV.
The musical was discussed with vigour early on the morning of Nov. 17 when fans started lining up for the three-day sale.
“You should watch the HBO film before the documentary,” said Rob Younkers, 39, a fashion designer from Los Angeles. “To ease you in, so you know what you’re in for.”
Behind him, Scotty Vanhoozier, 43, an IT specialist from Charlotte, N.C., showed photos of his licence plate — “STAUNCH” — a Little Edie-ism; the Big and Little Edie dolls he’d had commissioned; and the many contemporary Beale portraits he’d bought over the years.
The sale and this visit was a bucketlist item, his partner, Ben Collins, 56, said. “I’m married to an obsessive collector.”
When Quinn bought the house for $220,000 (U.S.) in1979, she promised Little Edie that she wouldn’t tear it down.
Big Edie had died in 1977, and Little Edie — who was 84 and living in a small apartment in Bal Harbour, Fla., when she died in 2002 — airily told Quinn: “All it needs is a coat of paint.”
Bradlee was allergic to cats and horrified by the house’s deep feline funk and its decrepitude.
Carl Bernstein bet $100 they wouldn’t be able to make the place habitable by the next summer. “He had to pay up,” Quinn said.
“Ben, much to my dismay, was always very welcoming,” she said. “One day I was sitting in the sunroom, and he walks in with this couple. ‘This is Sven and Ingrid from Finland.’ I thought maybe he knew them. But he says, ‘They’ve come all the way from Finland and asked if they could have a tour.’ ”
Other early birds included Astrelle Johnquest, 36, a gallerist, and Josh Klinghoffer, 38, the guitarist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who had flown in from Los Angeles.
Susan Wexler, whose company, Behind the Hedgerows runs estate sales on the East End of Long Island, and her team prepared for the Grey Gardens sale with special care.
They watched the documentary over and over, to absorb the Beale lore and to highlight pieces that appeared in the film — like a ladderback chair with a rush seat you can see during Little Edie’s flag dance ($495), or a curio cabinet filled with tchotchkes ($695).
Pricing was a challenge: a small bergère chair, scuffed, stained and catscratched was priced at $495. “No extra charge for the cat pee,” Wexler said.
Quinn had restored most of the Beale-era items, which came with the house. Wooden and wicker furniture had been repainted; sofas and chairs reupholstered. Original pieces were marked with a gold star on their tags.
Built in 1897, the airy arts and crafts style-house bears little resemblance to the gloomy fortress seen in the documentary.
At 9 a.m., the doors opened. Alex Rosenfield, 31, scored the scratched bergère chair, though he almost lost it on the staircase when he skipped a step in his eagerness and dropped it. Younkers had secured the curio cabinet and all its contents, 58 items, for a total of $1,051. “My heart is racing,” he said.
Klinghoffer bought iron garden furniture, and Bradlee’s desk ($675).
Grey Gardens, he wrote in text to me, was “an amazing study in potential and expectation. Living a certain way, or not.
“The notion of fame, infamy, happiness and misery. All of it. It’s all there in this story. Glory, heartbreak, love, sickness. It’s beautiful. It’s life.” Distributed by Tribune Content Agency